Dragon*con actively turns a blind eye to a very real problem for women con-goers

As someone who takes in a lot of television, movies, and pop culture I get super excited about conventions. I’ve only been to a couple in my lifetime one of which is Dragon*Con in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend. I went in 2008 and had an absolute blast. I went to a couple Torchwood panels, sang along at the Buffy Horror Picture Show and the Doctor Horrible Sing Along Blog. I met Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto from the Torchwood series) and he told me I was lovely *blush*.

My husband and I are going this year as well and I’m super excited. We have costumes lined up (something I didn’t do last time) and I’ve got the app installed on my phone with the panels selected that I hope I can get to. I’m also pretty mentally prepared for the fact that it will be 4 days surrounded by a massive amount of people. I normally try to avoid crowds and I tend to get overwhelmed easily in them. That’s why I’m glad I was able to get us a room in one of the 5 host hotels. When I’m feeling like it’s all too much I’ll just retreat to my room.

One of the reasons I don’t like crowds (and there are a few as to why they make me nervous) is because you never know who you’re brushing up against. For woman it’s always on our minds that some creepy person may feel free to reach out and grab whatever they’d like. When there are this many people shoved together anything can happen.

When I went to Dragon*Con four years ago I never felt endangered, but I did recognize that taking extra caution was needed. Usually I was hanging out with one or more people, but occasionally I was on my own. And luckily nobody accosted or assaulted me. This year I’ll have my husband with me for most of the time.

Having seen first hand what a popular convention is like I applauded the Backup Ribbon Project. The incident that caused its founders to begin this project occurred the year I was at the Con. Basically two girls came across a man accosting/yelling at another girl and people were too afraid to step in and help her because they weren’t “official” in any way. The ribbons are for people to recognize those who are willing to help anyone in danger get them to a safer spot. They are also for people wearing the ribbons to know it’s ok to help anyone that looks like they may be in danger. From their website: If you take a Backup ribbon or you wear a Backup t-shirt, you are promising one very simple thing: You WILL be That Person to help out anybody being harassed. Gender, orientation, presentation is irrelevant. You WILL find a way to help, whether by directly intervening, getting help from elsewhere, or simply listening the person being harassed. You WILL be there for them. You WILL accept that they believe they have been harassed. You WILL NOT question them or doubt them, You WILL give them whatever help they wish.”

They have received reports about “backup” helping to break up fights and help others get to safety. Their goal is laudable. I’m not sure how anyone is against helping female fan con-goers feel safer.

Unfortunately the people running Dracon*Con don’t feel the same way. This post was made saying they won’t sanction or support it. The Backup Ribbon Project’s response is here. People are pretty outraged. Instead of helping to solve an actual problem (females DO get harassed at Dracon*Con and other conventions) they are trying to solve a potential problem. I recognize that it is possible that there may be a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” or other “bad” person posing as someone willing to help that takes advantage of the situation. However, the very real problem is that there is a lack of security at Dragon*con and a absolutely terrible to non-existent harassment policy. As the Backup project points out, their policy boils down to “don’t be a jerk.” To be clear, there is no policy in place to take any action against anyone that has harassed another member of the con. After reading the comments on the Live Journal post it appears that there is no training for security at the Con. There are no requirements or anything of the like. Badge and hotel key checks are great, but what is the ratio of security to con goer. The Backup Project asks some really great and pertinent questions in their response to Dragon*con.

I also agree with them and the other outraged attendees that this new policy makes me sad and angry. In a year that has seen women lose more and more of their rights it just makes me bitter. Having to see a fan convention that I am excited to go to turn a blind eye to a real problem for women is disappointing.

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About eadon216

As a Librarian I make it my goal to know as much as I can about all sorts of media. I consume more books, movies, TV, and music than is healthy for a normal person. Add in a good amount of MMORPG gaming and you have the perfect recipe for me. I enjoy doing all of this with my husband in our theater style basement

Reading their response sounds a lot like “We think this is great and appreciate it, but it could make us legally liable, and we just can’t have that” which is pretty much what I would expect coming from a large organization (with lawyers).

For example, I worked at a bookstore. We didn’t have security guards and maybe one security camera. If we saw someone walking out of the store with property that wasn’t theirs, we were in no way to stop them. We could call the shopping center’s security, but could not do anything ourselves. If we intervened, our job was in jeopardy as we then opened up a liability for the company as we weren’t trained in security.

In this case, if the company did support it, and allowed this extra “security”, and as they say, something bad happens… an attendee is injured by a ribbon-wearer, someone poses with not-so-nice intentions, etc. then the convention organization is held liable and is opening itself up for litigation.

From their post, it sounds like they DO secretly like it… afterall, it helps to make the event safer overall, but they can’t SAY they support it or sanction it for these legal reasons.

(Plus, we all know that the population of “white knights”, VERY willing to help a damsel in distress, will be high… and in their duties, it’s a high possibility that they may go a little… overboard.)

I get liability and covering your ass. I too worked for the same bookstore chain you did. However, Dragon*Con has not acknowledged their lack of a harassment policy or any policy that says harassment of any con-goer is unacceptable and if a person is reported that they will take it seriously and follow up with some sort of action (banning the person for a day, etc). To me, that would be covering their ass and preventing themselves from being liable. If they wanted to support the Backup Project on the sly they could have said “this is not a sanctioned Dragon*con venture, please keep in mind it is run by a third party and we do not make any claims or take responsibility.” but yet keep the project going during Con.